Tag: Social media

Social Media, Free Speech, and You.

The following article contains numerous external links which will give additional context to my contention in this posting. I invite you to explore them for yourself.

Dear friends, it is time we reorder our use of social media. What was innocuously considered the source for cute cat videos and the way to connect with others was, in fact, all the while mapping our every move and trapping us in the haze of our own dopamine produced fog. As if those matters were not enough to shake us from our stupor, the unsettling trend of laws, arrests, and those enjoying time in “Facebook jail” should jolt us awake and aware.

The fire storm surrounding author J.K. Rowling’s support of researcher Maya Forstater, who lost her job after Tweeting the scandalous notion that “a person cannot change their biological sex”, was the first blip on my radar screen concerning the issue of social media and social censorship. If someone of Rowling’s stature (she authored the Harry Potter series) can be shouted down, can anyone dare to voice a dissenting thought? The trajectory seems to point to a resounding “NO”.

Other stories which caught my attention include:

  • The pregnant Austrailian woman arrested in her own home for allegedly inciting an anti-lockdown protest.
  • The hate crime bill in Scotland which could lead to prosecution for things one said at their own dinner tables.
  • The on-going saga of Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow who came to the world’s attention because she called someone’s transgendered daughter “he” in a tweet and was summarily questioned by the police. She also had a travel restriction placed on her because of her views.

And then this week brought these, until now, overseas concerns home to the US.

  • The Baylor Lariat, the student paper for the Waco, Texas university, is calling for action against a recurring lecturer for the following tweet in response to President Biden’s executive order on transgender issues, “What if I don’t want biological boys in the bathroom with my biological daughter? Do the 99% of us who do not struggle with gender dysphoria have a voice? No? Cool.”
  • Robert A. J. Gagnon, professor of theology at Houston Baptist University and respected scholar, is currently in “Facebook Jail” for daring to post something in opposition to the prevailing gender ideology.

Kalev Leetaru, an internet entreprenuer and academic states, “In the end, the speed and scope with which social media platforms are redefining acceptable speech and allowable ideas, extending their reach into the physical world and arbitrating “truth,” remind us just how fragile democracy and free speech are as we cede an ever-greater portion of the public square to unaccountable private companies.” (April 2020 article on RealClear Politics)

So, with that bit of background, I say it is beyond time for change. If you are part of the Siloam family, let me urge you to engage quickly and fully with the Faithlife platform. It provides us a space, as a family of faith, to freely share life with each other without the concerns associated with current popular social media platforms. Additionally, you are not being profiled or monitored by a big-tech beauracracy.

I suggest you take the following steps immediately:

  • Delete and remove all social media from your mobile device. Utilizing social media only in a desktop format forces increased intentionality. Then, intentionally and purposefully reduce your social media foot-print.
  • Pray. Ask God to give you wisdom and discernment in your use of the gifts of technology. Seek to follow His lead rather than trying to figure out how God fits into your social media habits.
  • Memorize and apply 1 John 5:21. More on this Sunday, January 31, 2021.
  • Declare a social media fast. Start with one day, one weekend, one week, or, if you are really brave, one month. Be ready to combat withdrawls. Researchers have a term for what you will experience, FOMO, “fear of missing out.”
  • Engage in “old fashioned” ways of connection. You remember, don’t you? Things like phone calls, hand written letters, front porch visits (masked and socially distanced, of course). Celebrate the moments of real life connections and experiences.
  • Educate yourself about the negative impacts of social media on your life and the lives of those around you; especially if you have children. The”Ledger of Harms” is a good place to start. If you can find “The Social Dilemma” documentary, watch it.

The issue of social media and its role in our lives has many facets, free speech, proper dissent, how to be in community, etc. Yet the heart of the matter is one of discipleship: how is our ability to follow Christ impacted by our use of social media?

Why I Am Changing My Social Media Habits

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” 1 Corinthians 6:12 (ESV)

I am grateful for the increased connection social media offers. Utilizing these tools I have reconnected with old friends and carried on conversations with people from around the world. Through social media I have engaged in significant conversations with people whose views are significantly, sometime diametrically, different from my own and have come away with a fresh appreciation for those views, though I may strongly disagree with them. Social media, and our hyper-connected world, has allowed me, as pastor, to stay informed about moments of crisis and celebration in the lives of those I serve. This fire hose of information offers opportunities to personally connect with those individuals by a phone call, a letter, or a knock on their door. But…

2 hours and 24 minutes each day spent looking at my phone screen is simply unacceptable.

So, I am making some changes.

I have moved all social media off my mobile device. This simple step has forced me to be more intentional in my consumption of social media and is helping me be more “present” everywhere I go. I am still in the “detox” phase with this step. I still find myself habitually picking up my phone to check for the latest update or interaction. It is rather unsettling to realize that I am looking at my phone with no particular or intentional reason. I feel like one of Pavlov’s famous dogs trained by stimulus response. It is time to regain my humanity.

I am declaring Saturdays as a day of digital fasting for me. I will answer my phone, I will send my Mom cute pictures of her great-grandchildren, and I will keep my family group chat lively and entertaining. I will not consume news, email, weather, social media (see above), or other digitally driven interaction on Saturdays. I plan to live as fully present as possible without the imposition of a screen at least one day each week.

I am trasitioning to other social media platforms. The toxicity of Twitter and the concerns of being a target of digital capitalism on FaceBook (we’ve all had that moment of getting an advertisement about something we were just talking about…), along with a host of other concerns (on-line predation, identity security, etc.) have had me searching for alternatives for quite a while now. There will be more on this in the very near future, so stay tuned. I will be keeping a toe in FaceBook, but it will only be my “front porch;” my “living room” will not be come-one-come-all in the days ahead.

I have begun educating myself on the impacts of social media consumption. This has been a sobering and eye-opening journey. The Center for Humane Technology is compiling, what they term, “The Ledger of Harms,” a list, with research citations, of the societal harms this unfolding competition for human attention is creating. Dive in, if you dare.

A couple of other sources I might suggest include:

The Social Dilemma. This doucmentary features leaders in the tech industry talking about concepts like technology addiction, social engineering, and surveillance capitalism.

The Art of Manliness Podcast episode on Digital Minimalism. This 60 minute deep dive, with show host Brett McKay and author Cal Newport, exposes some of the inherent problems associated with our digital lives and offers some surprising sources of help and perspective.

This is where I stand on this journey today. I will be asking those whom I love and lead to give serious and prayerful thought to rethinking and re-directing their online habits with the humble recognition that we are in this together.